Ridge, 37 and Police Hospital reject sick prison officer over ‘no bed’ syndrome

A Prison Officer based at Kete-Krachie in the Oti region had a close shave with death Wednesday night after he was hit with hypertensive emergency but could not find a bed in some major public hospitals in Accra.

The Second Class officer Stephen Nyarko, who was carried by an ambulance from his base in Kete-Krachie was rejected by the Police Hospital, Ridge Hospital, and the 37 Military hospitals because there was no bed to admit him on.

The desperate family of the officer returned him to the Police Hospital in the hope that he will be treated in the ambulance but that did not happen as health workers of the facility said there were protocols to follow.

The sick officer, according to Starr News sources, was taken to the senior correctional center (Bolsta) infirmary for monitoring.

The development comes in the wake of the renewed national conversation over the state of health facilities in the country.

Last week, a Medical Officer with the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Dr. Hadi Mohammed Abdullah recounted how he failed to secure a bed at his own ward at the facility when he had an emergency.

“Last week I was sick and you’ll be surprised that there was no bed for me. Last month I had an emergency while at work, I needed to be admitted to my own ward. You won’t believe it, there was no space for me.”

“They had to admit me into the nurses, the BDMS, her office, she had a bed there. That’s where they kept me,” he told Francis Abban on Morning Starr.

Dr. Abdallah further narrated the ordeal his department has been facing saying “the neurosurgery ward is always full. And over the years, if you go to the accident center more than 50 percent of the beds there are being occupied by neurosurgery cases.”

“From brain injuries to spinal tumors. Some are waiting to have surgery done. If you go to most of the surgical wards we have few of our patients occupying the beds there.”

He went on “we work even up to the polyclinics because patients are being brought in and there’s no bed space for them. There’s nowhere for them to go.”